Dagger through the heart
by zombiesurvivor123
Summary: Joshua, a young boy grieving over the loss of his monstrous nightmare, Risingstorm, finds a new dragon, this time a baby night fury. Though his life improves, he soon finds darker secrets will be unfolded, possibly leading to the destruction of Berk.
1. Chapter 1

Joshua stared blankly out on the horizon. The cold winter air froze him down to his bones, but he didn't mind. It reflected how he was feeling. The whole island of Berk seemed cold and empty to him. He draws a picture of a monstrous nightmare in his sketch book. Joshua smiles down at it, only to have sadness grip his heart once more. Resting his head on his knees, he feels the tears run down his face. 'Why did she have to die?', he thinks.

Joshua feels a hand lightly touch his shoulder. He looks up to see his sister, Astrid, and her boyfriend, Hiccup. "Hi", Astrid says softly.

Joshua says nothing, and Astrid looks at Hiccup, gesturing for him to help. He coughs and asks "You okay?"

Joshua looks at him with a glare that could kill a person in three seconds. "What's it look like to you?" he snarls.

Hiccup takes a step back and looks uneasily at Astrid. She speaks in a gentle voice, "Look, I know it must be hard for you to lose Risingstorm, but the fact is, it's time to move on. It's been two weeks since she died, and people are worried about you. All we see you do is mope around in depression. You eat hardly anything, and seem to be sleeping your life away. Please, if your not going to move on for yourself, do it for me."

Joshua says nothing, he only stands up and walks out towards the forest. Hiccup leaves to go take care of some things around his house, leaving Astrid alone on the green cliffside. She stands up and follows after her younger brother. She follows him for a while, being sure to stay a good twenty feet behind him. The birds in the evergreen trees sing beautiful, peaceful melodies. Astrid soon catches up with Joshua, and notices that the expression on his face has changed of one from grief to one of relaxation. Maybe what she had said really got through to him.

He stops in front of a non-frozen pond near a warm cave, and stares at his reflection. His pale blue eyes sparkle against the grey cave walls, and his medium length brown hair hangs over them. He brushes his bangs aside and adjusts his vest to a more comfortable position. Astrid walks up to him. He laughs. "Decide to come for a walk to?", he asks.

"Yep. The scenery is beautiful this time of year", Astrid says with a smile.

"Doesn't it look like this all year ?" Joshua asks. Astrid laughs. "Yeah I guess it does."

"Hey, sis? Thanks for helping me out. I guess I needed someone to knock some sense into me", Joshua says. Astrid gives him a hug, and right as they turn to leave, Joshua hears a high pitched squealing noise. "What was that?" Astrid asks.

They turn around to see a tiny shadow moving in the darkness of the cave. Soon, the small face of a baby night fury emerges, it's purple eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Joshua and Astrid look at each other before Joshua takes a step forward. The tiny dragon makes a tiny, high pitched cry of fear and steps back into the darkness. Joshua gets down on one knee and says in a soft voice, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The baby slowly emerges from the darkness once more, looking up cautiously at Joshua. Joshua extends his right hand, and the dragon gives it a few sniffs before licking his palm. Joshua looks up at Astrid, who smiles down at him. "She seems to like you", Astrid says.

Joshua nods and looks down at the tiny dragon, who is trying to climb on his shoulder. "Wait, how do you know it's a girl?" he asks.

Well, her eyes aren't green like Toothless'. That, and with most other dragon species, females have different eye color than males."

" Okay then", Joshua says. He picks up the baby dragon, who nuzzles his chest. 'Wow. I haven't even known this dragon for five minutes and she already trusts me', he thinks.

He carries her out of the cave, and the three of them head back down the beaten path to the village. Astrid turns to face Joshua, who is gently patting the sleeping dragon's head. "So, what are you going to name her", Astrid asks.

Joshua thinks this over for a few minutes. While they continue to walk, he notices a rusty dagger lying on the gravel trail. This gives him an idea. "Daggerheart", he says.

"That's a good name for her", Astrid says. They enter the village, and are greeted by Snotlout. He looks surprised when he sees Joshua. "Joshua? Where have you been? No one's seen you in days. And what's with the baby night fury?"

"I've been...sleeping? As for the dragon, Astrid and I found her in a cave. I decided to take her home. Her name is Daggerheart", Joshua says.

"Cool", Snotlout says. Joshua leaves when Snotlout tries to flirt with Astrid. As he walks through the village to his house, he sees several people whispering and pointing at him. He rolls his eyes and continues to his house. He runs into Hiccup, who is looking for Astrid. "Hey man", Joshua says.

Hiccup just stares at Daggerheart. "Uhh, where did you find the baby night fury?" he asks Joshua, confusion in his voice.

"Her name is Daggerheart. Astrid and I found her in a cave not to far from where you shot down Toothless. Anyway, I decided to keep her", Joshua says.

"Okay, but how do you know it's it a girl?" Hiccup asks.

"Eye color. With most dragon species, females have different eye color than males. ", Joshua explains. "Look, I'd love to stick around and chat, but Daggerheart has to explore her new home.

"Okay, one last question. Do you know where Astrid is?" Hiccup asks.

"Probably beating the crap out of Snotlout. Somewhere up near the village enterance", Joshua says before going inside. He sets down Daggerheart, who begins looking around the house and sniffing everything she can find. Joshua smiles down at her, happy to finally have a companion again. Once Daggerheart finishes exploring, she puts two legs up on Joshua's bed. Joshua laughs and pulls her up onto his bed. She curls up by his side and nuzzles him before falling asleep. Just before he falls asleep, Joshua thinks, 'Thank you Thor. You've given me happiness once again.


	2. Chapter 2

( One year later)

Joshua hears a couple of low roars and grunts coming from outside his bedroom door. He groggily gets up out of bed and throws on his vest. He walks across the creaking wooden floor, careful not to wake his sister, for if he did there would be dire consequences. He quickly scribbles down a note to Astrid on where he and Daggerheart were heading off to.

Just as Joshua quietly closes the door, he feel air running down the back of his neck. Turning around, he sees Daggerheart standing eye level with him. Her purple eyes are even deeper than they were when he found her last year. She was only slightly smaller than Toothless, but was quicker and more agile. Like how Toothless wanted to need Hiccup to fly, Daggerheart flat out refused to fly without Joshua, save for dire emergencies.

"Morning Daggerheart", Joshua says, patting her snout. She gingerly licks his palm and let's out a purring noise. "Sheesh, you always wake me up before dawn to go flying. And people wonder why I'm always sleeping in my spare time. At least I got to sleep in for an extra half-hour", he says.

Joshua grabs the saddle that Hiccup designed for him and fits it onto Daggerheart. He climbs up onto the saddle and pats Daggerheart's neck. "Okay girl, let's go to Dragon's Point. Hiccup and Toothless are going to meet us there."

Daggerheart's eyes narrow at the mention of Toothless' name. She takes off in an instant, Her wings pounding with enough force to knock a man's head clean off. The cool air rushes past them as Daggerheart flies with blinding speed.

Joshua holds onto the saddle for dear life, and it's not five minutes before they reach Dragon's Point. Hiccup and Toothless are resting up against a couple of trees. Daggerheart lands on the soft grass, a bright green blanket in the early morning sunshine. A few birds chirp in the trees, filling the air with peaceful melodies.

Hiccup looks up at Joshua and Daggerheart. "There you guys are. What took you so long?"

"Daggerheart had a bit of trouble getting me out of bed", Joshua says. Daggerheart let's out a deep series of noises, which is a dragon's way of laughing. Joshua scratches under her chin before walking over to Hiccup and Toothless. "So, anywhere in particular where we're going to fly today?" Joshua asks.

Hiccup looks at the map in his book. He shows it to Joshua and points at a small island about a mile off the coast of Berk. "Southern Island. Not many people go there, so it should be open for teaching our dragons some new stunts."

Joshua nods and sit's down next to Daggerheart. He reaches into a pouch that he always packs with food every night. He holds out a chicken leg to Hiccup, who takes in gratefully and tears a chunk of meat out of the leg. Joshua sticks a hand back into the bag and searches around for the Icelandic cod he packed.

Toothless could smell the fish and walks over to Joshua, sniffing the bag of food. Daggerheart immediately growls and bares her teeth at Toothless, ready to strike. Joshua puts a hind on Daggerheart's snout.

"Easy girl", he says. "He's not a threat to us. Calm down."

Meanwhile, Toothless had ran back over to Hiccup and was attempting to hide behind him. "Hey Joshua, why does Daggerheart hate Toothless so much?" Hiccup asks.

"I don't think it's that she hated Toothless", Joshua says "I think that she's just protective of me. But, since she doesn't do this with many other dragons, I could be wrong."

Joshua throws a fish at Toothless, who eats it quickly. Joshua then holds one out at Daggerheart, who gently takes it from his hand before swallowing it whole. Joshua stands up and stretches his back. Grabbing the bag of food, he attaches it to the saddle and climbs onto Daggerheart. Hiccup climbs onto Toothless, his prosthetic leg fitting into the device for Toothless' tail fin. Both of the Dragon's take off into the air, And the four head off to the Southern Island.

The flight is quick and short at the speed that they traveled, and the Southern Island is, like Hiccup said, Almost completely untouched by humans. No trees are cut down, wildlife and plant life are everywhere, a few beautiful blue streams dot the middle of the Island, near a three mile wide, two mile long clearing. The serenity and stillness of the nature in awe inspiring.

Joshua and Hiccup climb down from their dragons. Daggerheart gives Joshua a gentle nuzzle, Her way of saying thank you for taking her to such a peaceful place. Toothless soon becomes busy sniffing a plant none of them had seen before. Joshua reaches into his vest and takes out a journal. Flipping to the nearest clean sheet of paper, he takes out a pencil and scribbles down a new entry.

16th of may, 1239

I write today from the Southern Island. Hiccup, Toothless, Daggerheart, and I all sit hear in an open clearing. The beauty of nature here is so perfectly beautiful and untouched by humans that it's hard to describe. Daggerheart is still mad at Toothless for reasons I still can not think of. I don't know what we will be training out night furies today,but never the less, it will be a good day. Probably.

Joshua

Joshua stuffs the journal back into his vest and sit's down next to Daggerheart. She licks the side of his face gently. "Oh, Daggerheart, that's nasty!" Joshua says, wiping his face . Daggerheart makes that laughing noise again, and Joshua gives her a hug around her neck.

"I'm so glad that I found you last year", he whispers. Just as he stands up, he hears the sound of wings flapping. He looks up and sees Ruffnut and Tuffnut riding their Hideous Zippleback. 'Oh great, he thinks as he brushes the dirt off of his pants.

"What do you guy's want?", Joshua asks in an annoyed voice.

"You know some stuff about medicine, right?" Ruffnut asks Joshua.

"Yeah, so?", Joshua asks.

"It's Astrid's dragon, Stormfly. She's hurt badly", Tuffnut says. Joshua nods and tells Hiccup what has happened. They both hop onto their dragons and head back to the village as fast as lightning.

The second Daggerheart lands in front of and Injured Stormfly, Joshua hops off her and runs over to his sister Astrid. "What happened here?" he asks Astrid.

Astrid is clearly trying to hold back her tears. "We were going to go find you guys when somebody's gronkle fell asleep in midair and crashed into us. We crashed. I only have a few scrapes, but I heard this crack, like bones breaking, she let out a scream of pain, and now she can't move he body", Astrid explains.

Joshua nods and responds. "Well, I think that her neck is broken. The same thing happened to Risingstorm. I wish there was something that I could do , but, nothing can heal something of this magnitude", Joshua says.

Astrid stares at him in disbelief. "You mean, she's going to die?" Astrid asks, her voice wavering.

Joshua nods. "I'm so sorry. The only thing we can do is put her out of her misery. I'll give you time to say your goodbyes."

Astrid begins to weep, and Hiccup Hugs her tightly, doing what he can to comfort her. Joshua turns to Snotlout. "Bring me your bow and one arrow", he tells Snotlout.

Snotlout nods and runs into his house. He returns a few minutes later with the weapons and hands them to Joshua. Joshua notches the arrow, pulls it back, points it at Stormfly's head, and let's it fly. The arrow finds it's mark, impaling itself in Strormfly's brain. Joshua hands the bow to Snotlout before joining Hiccup in comforting his sister. Daggerheart lies down next to the Joshua, seeming to also be taking part in the sorrow.

Joshua thinks, 'Why did you do this to her? Do you have no mercy, Thor?'

In about half an hour, once everyone had left, Joshua took a large sheet and covered Stormfly's body with it. It had begun to rain, almost as if the whole island was grieving for Stormfly. Once the all three of them were inside, Joshua whispered, "Whats in store for us next?"


End file.
